T - Wow, okay. For a very an old quad the taste does not quite match the nose but its still pretty tasty. Good darker malts, light caramel, light barrel notes, sugars, dark fruits like raisins, very faint vinous notes and light sambuca.

M - Mouthfeel is relatively surprising. Very nice carbonation here yet still creamy on the finish with some warm booze feel to it.

O - Overall I was very impressed by this beer. Been waiting quite some time to crack this and thought it quite nice to start the whale tasting off with this.

22oz bottle shared by Matt at last night's whale tasting. Poured into a Portsmouth tulip.

A - Pours a deep brownish amber...small dark tan head and good clarity. Short foamy head and foamy lacing left on the glass.

S - Boozy, a bit of chocolate, some sweet malts, slight astringency and hints of fruity esters. A touch of solventy alcohol.

T - Didn't quite match the aroma. Aroma indicated more sharp flavoring, but the flavor was super smooth and creamy, layers of malty sweetness and sugars, but well controlled and felt balanced despite not truly having much hop character...a touch boozy.

Thanks to imperialking for cracking this one at the Chicago Burbs Random Mega Tasting. Poured into Narke tulip.

A - Pours a mirky caramel brown-color, off-white head, thin collar.

S - Dark fruit, burnt sugars, oak, light cabernet, and light oxidization. The sweetness & booze work wonders together and the oxidization is there but compliments the beer. All very mellow, yet very complex.

T - Lots of sweetness in the form of caramel, burnt sugars, plums, figs, raisins, molasses mixed with a very smooth booze and perfect barrel notes. The cabernet doesn't come through quite as much as the nose, and it's more oak then anything. Booze is ultra-smooth for 14.3%...aging really nice. Finish is caramel & booze.

M - Full body, rich and smooth, light carbonation, creamy finish.

O - An excellent BA Quad from MS. Once again, they make yet another amazing beer that appears to be aging gracefully. I'd say there's still another year left in this beer, which is crazy. Overall, give me more!

my personal white whale for quite some! what better time to open it than a casual monday night. For every door that closes a window opens
huge thanks to ben for this amazing chance.

this bad boy (girl?) has 3 years on it

22oz bomber split into tulips

a- much darker than i expected, looks beautiful. super dark brown, almost completely blacked out. one nice thick off white head. this one looks fantastic.

s- noticed this immediately upon opening. this nose is huge. dark fruits right up front. big sweetness, barrel comes out in the back, zero alc in the smell. as it warms the cab barrels really come through.

t- this one is huge! dark fruit and barrel right up front, slight oxidation, vanilla, and more dark fruit, raisen and grape, hint of prune, a bit of anise. no taste of alc on the palate but a huge warming in the chest. at nearly 15% this one restrains the alc very well. lingering sweetness remains on the tongue.

m- big body, one of the biggest iv had. thick and chewy and coats the mouth, brings out all of the flavors. surprisingly has good carbonation.

o- great beer, i think i opened it at the right time. this one is big, rich and very complex, every sip brings out more and more flavors and nuances.

perfect beer for the occasion, i feel good about lies ahead. (well accept for the hangover that will visit me tomorrow lol cab barrel aged beers due me in)

Big thanks to Jeff for sending this one down for the Planets tasting! The best beer of the set.

Pours amber in color with a big off-white head. There’s a little bit of wine and booze on the aroma. A really nice dak fruit and sweet caramel malt aroma. Might even be some chocolate. The flavor is quite nice. Lots of chocolate and dark fruit notes. A really nice Cabernet flavor. Solid stuff. Medium and medium.

Lots of carbonation apparent with the big white pillow like head. Good retention left behind lots of side glass lace.

highly spiced with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a touch of yeast. Some pears or apples sneaking in there as well.Lots of apple and pear flavors mixed in with a good amount of spice. A slightly dry finish and something bitter that wanted to come through but never actually made it.

Very smooth, medium bodied and well carbonated. Never slick and had a very nice finish.Not bad, a little bit more then a sippe

A mountainous, mushroom-cloud plume atop dark turbidity, a constant race, an inverted shower, fights its' way upwards and adds to the tan snow which is ever deepening, but deepening from below. It's a warm, comfortable night, the voices of classic England tripping over the boards which lie in stacks against the wall. "Bring him to my study."
An idle few moments drift by, a smile forms on my face as I gaze at this beauty. Still, the bubbles form the snow, and the mushroom-cloud has barely receded. Tenacity, friends, is much of what distinguishes a great man from any other. Tenacity. Throw your heart into it, beat your head against the wall, and eventually you may notice a slight change in the wall, not simply the bloody distortion. Tenacity. I take a whiff and shiver. What incredible beauty lies within that aroma. What grace. What depth. It smells warm and sticky, of raisins and dark syrup, sugar and molasses, dates and figs, and I clench both fists in ecstasy. "Why do you protect me?"
Such a strange feeling, this beauteous rapture in another room, as an ancient love drama plays itself out in my ears with an English accent. Of whom do you think I speak?
"You transfix me quite." Precisely. It is delicate, deep, dangerous, and entrancing. What a beauty.
This deserves the beautful classical strains that now teem to my ears, an exquisite creation. A note of toasted almonds, toasted grain, the dark sherry notes of old age, and the beautiful sheet of virginal lace coats the glass completely.
Cocoa and butter-rum with oak barrel dryness and raging dark sugars... "You are not to be trusted atall." The alcohol must make it what it is, with the otherworldly depth of character and layer upon layer of ecstasy, but I cannot taste it.
Fabulously luxurious. I find no flaw, none at all, save cursing their name for bringing me rapture upon rapture, and once only every time. Why ever must it be so long ago. Why ever must I never again taste this delectable nectar of the goddess. One thing, dear reader, that makes experiences so sweet upon the remembering, so poignant, is knowing in the moment that it will never, ever return. Life is lived in nostalgia.

22 oz. bottle. This brew pours a dark reddish-brown with a tan head. The flavors of this beer change as it warms up towards room temperature. One of the most complex tasting beers I’ve tried in quite some time. Fruits, caramel, licorice, candy sugar hints come through with the addition of the oak from the aging in the cabernet barrels. Lovely beer.

T - Dark fruit, brown sugar malts, raisins, dark fruits, with a bit of wine influence. Nice malts and a bit of pleasant alcohol burn that cuts into the sweetness. Really a lot going on here, and it's very good.

M - Full bodied, smooth, appropriate carbonation. No complaints here.

O - Excellent beer that I wish I could drink all the time. So glad I got to give this one a try.

Sammy had shared this bottle. Pours a dark brown colour with a finger or so of head. Lacing around much of the glass. Smells quite oaky for a quad (probably barrel aged?), chocolate, candied sugar, with Belgian yeasty aroma. Flavour is fairly sweet, not cloying though. Medium bodied mouthfeel for a quad. I guess I'll likely never try this again if it was only brewed once, but I enjoyed it.

Quad with brett. Looked and smelled like an imperial stout with added yeast. Very lacey on dark brown body with two inch head. Drinkable but strong, sour, and cloying sweet all concommitment qualities. The sauvignon barreling had worked its way in, and likely where the tannin sourness originates from.Red grapes, but little yeasty taste remains. Above medium mouthfeel.Bottle 3 years past due, received about 1.5 years ago from Mr. Squires.

Poured into a tulip. Huge, huge thanks to bmanning for cracking open this bottle. The appearance is a dark brown with some garnet hues and a load of lacing after the head finally settles down.

The aroma brings strong notes of dark fruits as well as some nice oak, booze, and black licorice. I'm getting plum, dark berries, figs, dates, and a whole mess of great fruit. The taste follows up on this and is incredibly complex. Quite a strong fruit presence as well as a nice dosing of malty goodness.

Huge thanks to Alex for busting this one out. I had driven non-stop from Tampa to Madison and then back to Chicago (27-ish straight hours of driving, 48+ hours awake!!) I knew I really needed an out-of-this-world brew, and Venus was exactly that. By the time I finished my half, I might as well have been on Venus!

A - It is a slow-motion gusher; Alex and I caught it without a drop of spillage, though. It pours a slightly-better-than-typical Quad, deep brown with a nice off-white cap and some sticky lace.

S - What a delectable brew; I am getting sublime impressions of dark fruit (raisin, fig, date), some dark bread and roasted nutty aromatics, along with maple-brown sugar, anise and spicy-estery yeast. Booze is well-hidden at this point.

T - This beer is fantastic; I get some impressions of roast-toast, dark fruit, maple-brown sugar-vanilla, anise and earthy oak-like notes. There is certainly a ton of flavor imparted by the yeast, some fruit and lots of spice, but overall this brew strikes me as slightly more Dubbel-y than the average Quad; it has more of a dark nutty-bready flavor than an emphasis on fruitiness. There is no real impression of alcohol in the brew; certainly no perception of a 14% beast.

Big thanks to akbeerfiend for this one. Served in my Westvleteren goblet.

A - This one was a slight gusher. Pours with a finger of slow-dissipating ecru foam that settles to a thick cap and leaves solid glass-coating lacing. Body is a very dark brown that is consistent throughout the glass - no light peaking through.

S - Plenty of oak, dark bread, yeast, anise, maple, roasted malts and grain, slight lactic notes. Not much in the way of alcohol at all.

T - Taste is sweet dark fruits, with notes of brown sugar, vanilla and oak. Finish is light roasty bitterness and anise and maybe a touch of spicy phenols.

D - If this is 14.3% then this is the most masterful Houdini job I've ever seen. I can tell from my buzz that this is pretty potent, and that if I didn't share this with ktrillionaire I'd probably be under a table somewhere. Highly recommended!

A- Poured with a proteinaceous khaki colored head, which was reasonably retained, and left some nice lacing behind. The body was a dark sedimented semi-opaque garnet-tinged dark amber, with little traces of carbonation of the sides of the glass.

T- Stewed malts are right up front, along with some mild Belgian yeast phenolics. Impressions of burnt candi sugar, allspice, and soft dark fruit flavors throughout. The finish is dry and slightly bitter, presumably from hops and/or oak tannins. The finish lingers on the tongue tremendously. As the beer warmed, the flavors of candi sugar and allspice became more dominant, pushing the rating to the 'near-exceptional' level

M- Thick, syrupy, and velvety in texture. Coats the mouth wonderfully. A touch of astringency, and a little heat from the alcohol. A very delicate carbonation here. Nearly perfect!

D- The alcohol is certainly noticable, but I never would have guessed this to be a 14+% ABV brew! So smooth, complex and quaffable... I wish I had more!

Murky chestnut brown with blurry scarlet and orange edges (brighter sunshine might have turned opacity into lucency). The sandstone colored head is surprisingly large, which most likely means generous carbonation. It's whipped creamy, is in no rush to depart, and is doing a decent job with respect to lace.

The aroma is tremendous, despite three fingers of foam. The beer smells like a no-holds-barred BSDA with a generous helping of black licorice, which is courtesy of star anise. This Midnight Sun ale has the potential to be something truly special.

Venus is a wonderful quadrupel that is more true to the style than most. First: the release was 16 months ago and the beer has aged beautifully. While alcohol still packs a punch, it isn't a hot or harsh punch. Second: this big bruiser tastes like a combination of The Beast Grand Cru and Mephistopheles' Stout from Avery. That's good company to be in.

Specifics include dark chocolate-covered caramels, raisin paste, overripe figs, blackstrap molasses, anise and loads of black pepper and clove. It's amazing how bold the various flavors are. They're well-defined, yet work together in seamless fashion to produce a crashing symphony of a Belgian quadrupel that is music to the taste buds.

Truthfully, the whole 'aged in French oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels' thing is difficult to appreciate given what else is going on. A port wine flavor might be in there somewhere, but I would never have gotten there on my own. It obviously worked, so it looks like that part of the process was as vital as all the rest.

Despite the massive head, which was just recreated on the second pour, the beer is not overcarbonated. It's a little smaller than is optimal, but still has a light chewiness that is impressing more and more with each passing ounce.

Do Alaskans know how lucky they are to have Midnight Sun in their midst? This brewery thinks big, brews big and usually succeeds big. Thanks to sprucetip for one of the most enjoyable quads that I've had in many a moon.

22 pulled out of the basement over the weekend for a cellar clearing tasting. I got this a while back from the one and only AkBelgianBeast. Reviewed from good notes.

Big/huge head ... 3 finger lite tan foam over a clear deep brown brew... the head lasts forever and leaves great lace behind.

Nose is fantastic, but not exactly what I think of as a proper "Quad" ... waves of chocolate... with rich dark fruits and hints of the barrel... decadent.

Wow! not sure my palate is ready.. again very chocolaty... brownie batter ... with Belgian phenols and esters... spicy dark cherries and even some prune... the Cab barrels show as tannins with hints of dry leather.. a bit boozy, but overall it adds to the amazing complexities.. really big body and big carbonation.

No real complaints... but I will say, I never would have picked this as a Quad blindly.. but I respect and see the brewers' intentions and absolutely loved this beer, especially on later pours.

Franks is the true "Trader's Trader"... a great guy and somebody that I someday hope can share a beer with in person. Thanks.

Sampled at HOTD Dock Sale 11/14. Thanks, Jeff for bringing this down from the Great White North.

Dark Brown nearly opaque body. Creamy brownish tan head, decent lacing. Cornucopia of dried fruits (prunes, figs, raisins) in the nose with a bit of chocolate. Taste bomb, big dried fruit flavors a bit of dark brown sugar. Very smooth mouth feel with a lingering dry finish. Alcohol is pretty well hidden. Not the most drinkable of beers, but certainly worth sharing with the Front of the Line Club. Highlight of the Day. Another world class offering from Midnight Sun.

22oz. bomber into tulip on 10/30/09. Thanks to KRAMER17081 for sharing!

A - Poured a dark cola brown body with an almost purple tint and a frothy light tan/beige-colored head that reduced to a patchy retention and sparse lacing.

S - Initial aroma is strong and boozy with a prevalent dark fruit suggesting raisins, prunes and currants. Hints of star anise/licorice and chocolate also emerge.

T - Like the aroma, the flavor boasts a ton of dark fruit character, especially heavy on prunes and raisins, but also black cherry. A hint of sourness develops in the middle, accompanied by some drier woody notes and tannins. Finishes with a mild earthy hop bite.

M - Venus is uber-full-bodied with a thick, syrupy texture and chewy mouthfeel. Finishes slightly dry with rich, sugary sweetness on the palate.

D - This is a freakin' huge Quad to say the least, and half a bomber was certainly more than enough for me. Still, not too shabby for a 14.3% heavyweight.

The beer pours a rich dark brown color with very good head retention and lacing. There are also hints of red hilights in this beer. However, one whiff of this beer and I was immediately transported to barrel aging heaven. Wow this smells great. I get a huge sweet aroma of milk chocolate, milk duds, vanilla, anise and cherry, with just a hint of bitterness. Flavors on the palate generally replicate the nose, and I get just waves of chocolate, brown sugar, molasses, prunes and plum. This beer is so decadently rich and sweet, it's literally too much of a good thing. Ultimately, although the flavors are excellent, the sweetness is just too much for me. That will likely change with additional aging, but at least right now, the high alcohol and intense sweetness are just a bit much. Mouthfeel is still very smooth and remarkably light, with a long smooth finish. Drinkability is not too bad for the abv., but a little bit goes a long way with this one. Regardless, this is still an altogether excellent beer, and one that will likely only improve over time.

A: Dark brown with reddish highlights. A thin, tan head recedes to a ring rather quick

S: This is an anise and vanilla bomb. These two aromas dominated the nose. Behind the strong anise aroma, there is plenty of big sweetness with brown sugar, molasses and burnt caramel. Not very yeasty. The wine character is reserved, but opens up as it warms up. Pretty good

T: Opens up big and sweet with a big anise character. There's also a lot of molasses, brown sugar and toffee up front that melds into a vinous sweetness from the wine barrels. I am left wishing for something to cut through the sweetness - a little tannic character or some bitterness - but it's not there. The strong anise character persists through the finish, along with vinous and sweet flavors and a touch of alcohol

M: A bit sweeter than a like my quads but creamy with an good, spicy finish

D: A bit of a chore because of the sweetness but otherwise enjoyable. But I have to ask - would it have hurt to make this closer to 10-11%?